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Hello. I am someone who doesn't travel too much...maybe 3-5 times a year. Not looking to rack up tons of miles for free flights or anything....but two things that would make traveling much nicer for me would be lounge access and/or priority boarding.
Are there any cards out there that come with these benefits now-a-days?
@toothgrind3r wrote:Hello. I am someone who doesn't travel too much...maybe 3-5 times a year. Not looking to rack up tons of miles for free flights or anything....but two things that would make traveling much nicer for me would be lounge access and/or priority boarding.
Are there any cards out there that come with these benefits now-a-days?
I wonder if you don't stick to a specific airline, if a person is able to add on priority boarding for a nominal fee to their ticket, and then be reimbursed from a credit card like Prestige/Premier/PRG/Ritz/etc?
I can tell based on your heavy use cards you dont focus much on rewards. That is fine.... but even if you fly 5 times a year, switching out the BCE and adding in a premier/prestige or a freedom/csp combo or a EDP/Delta Gold could prove handy....
Others will chime in on the lounges....I think the Amex Platinum has lounge access, as does the ritz, Diners Elite (new apps dc'd for now), and prestige.
To answer both your questions, no, I am not loyal to one airline, nor do I really have a preference at this point.
And yeah, I'm not much of a rewards person...more into easy cashback.
I'll start looking at what's been reco'd....thanks!
@toothgrind3r wrote:Hello. I am someone who doesn't travel too much...maybe 3-5 times a year. Not looking to rack up tons of miles for free flights or anything....but two things that would make traveling much nicer for me would be lounge access and/or priority boarding.
Are there any cards out there that come with these benefits now-a-days?
Priority Boarding is easy: Delta AMEX, Citi AAdvantage, Chase United, BofA Alaska Air. Works as long as you have the card. Generally the other non-airline branded cards do not offer priority boarding.
The other way to get priority boarding is to have elite status, but both the credit card and the elite status require some level of focus on one airline.
The side advantage to each of the 4 cards above is, first checked bag free, and extra miles when you use the card to pay for tickets.
Now when you talk lounge access, that's a whole other kettle of fish. You can get basic Delta lounge access, buy your way in, with the Delta AMEX, United gives you two passes per year I think, but not the other two. So there is very limited lounge availability in the basic airline cards.
To get real lounge access, you have to go to the $450 AF cards (Diners Premier being not available). They have all kinds of possibilities, and restrictions and holes here and there, but the other avenue is to outright buy a PriorityPass membership for $100 per year, and $27 per visit. It's out of pocket cost, but if you don't want to shell out $450 for an unknown number of visits, it's a viable alternative.
UNFCU has one card that gives Priority Pass lounge access ($50 AF): https://www.unfcu.org/product.aspx?id=386. You'll need to be related to the UN somehow or join UNA-USA to be eligible for that CU.
@Anonymous wrote:UNFCU has one card that gives Priority Pass lounge access ($50 AF): https://www.unfcu.org/product.aspx?id=386. You'll need to be related to the UN somehow or join UNA-USA to be eligible for that CU.
...and earn more than $75k...